An oenophile (and foodie), a dork, and an adventurer, I will take you on my journeys into wine (and food). Happy drinking!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Guide me, Jackie

I am about halfway through Jacqueline Friedrich's marvelous tome, A Wine and Food Guide to the Loire, and now is a time to reflect upon it and urge you to read it. Yes, my love of literature and wine dorkdom drew me first to Friedrich's ever-so-handy and entertaining volume The Wines of France (which if you don't own, you should), and I so enjoyed her casual, informative, and humorous style that I yearned for more. Little did I know that she published Loire nearly a decade before France, and althought it is out of print, I had to get my paws on it.

If you've read this blog, you know of my obsession with Loire wines. I find them to be the most characterful wines of France. Structurally, the book follows the format of books such as Joe Bastianich's Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy. Both books are divided into regions, and discuss the vinous history of each region, the politics and makeup of the region, and then subdivide the regions wines and end with discussing the typical regional foods. Friedrich's book exposes more nuances than Bastianich's book, she mentiones her top producers and their styles, she notes the politics and changes of the region, dwells on the countless and heavenly pork products, and she seems to cherish each and every type of wine from sweet to dry, from pedigreed to peasant.